


Encounter

by Pandoras_hope



Category: Roswell (TV)
Genre: Aliens, Angst, Dreams, Dreamsharing, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Girls Kissing, Kissing, Lesbian Character, One Shot, POV Female Character, POV First Person, POV Lesbian Character, Subtext, Visions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-03
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-10 17:55:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11696865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandoras_hope/pseuds/Pandoras_hope
Summary: Maria DeLuca knows Isabel Evans is an alien.  What she doesn't know is what to do with this information.  Can Isabel convince her to keep their secret?





	Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> A re-telling of Season 1 Episode 3 "Monsters"
> 
> One shot
> 
> Thank you for reading!

I was heading north on 285 toward the center of Roswell, jammin to my favorite tune when I saw her.  Isabel Evans.  The most beautiful girl I had ever seen in real life.  She was standing beside her broken-down Jeep, arms crossed with a scowl on her face but looking flawless as ever in a red sundress.  Red was a good color on her.  Under any other circumstances I would have been ecstatic to happen upon the hottest girl in school, and with an obvious reason to stop and talk to her.  But not this girl.  I had in fact spoken to her for the first time recently, and it was not just her beauty that intimidated me.  She was also an alien.

Yeah, I had trouble believing it too.

I ignored my better judgement- the voice in my head that yelled at me to run away from her screaming like I had the day my best friend Liz told me what she and her brother Max are- and pulled my car up next to her.  As I rolled the passenger window down I noticed the logo on the tow truck behind her:  a giant rocket ship with the words “lift off” inscribed on it.  Oh, this was too good.

“Going home?”  I asked, leaning across the passenger seat to look up at her.  She glanced behind her at the rocket ship, then turned back to me with eyebrows raised and hit me with her cold stare.  Apparently a sense of humor was not one of her many attributes.

“I mean, uh,”  I cleared my throat to cover the hysterical giggle that was bubbling up.  “Do you need a ride to school?”

Her cold stare turned to a look of disgust, but she had no other choice unless she wanted to wait around in the scorching sun for someone else to pick her up.   _ Do aliens get sunburned _ ?  I wondered absently as she lowered herself gingerly into the seat next to me.  

We rode in silence for a while.  I kept surreptitiously glancing at her, trying to see if there were any physical clues that she was not human.  Aside from her almost otherworldly beauty I couldn’t see anything special about her.  After a minute she turned to me to ask “Doesn’t this thing have any air conditioning?”

I guess beggars  _ can _ be choosy.  

“Yeah, it’s on all the way.”  I told her.

Then without warning she held her hand over the vent and suddenly ice-cold air was blasting out of it.

“Oh my god, what are you doing?!”  I screeched, almost losing control of the car.

She stared at me open-mouthed.  “I’m just trying to make it more comfortable in here.”

“Don’t...do that...in my car!”  I gasped, trying to catch my breath.  My heart was still pounding and my hands shook on the wheel.

She rolled her eyes and sat back against the seat.  “Whatever.  What year is this thing anyway?”

“It’s a ‘92,” I bristled at her derisive tone, “and it’s never been towed either.”

She rolled her eyes again.  Man she really had that down.  “The sound system is pathetic.”

And then in spite of my recent freak-out over her AC trick she once again waved her hand, this time over the stereo component.  The volume spiked to eardrum-blasting levels and I screamed, swerving the car toward oncoming traffic in panic.

“I’m just trying to help you out,” she laughed as I tried to get my breathing and the car under control.  I kept my eyes forward, fuming, and focused on keeping the car perfectly within the lines.  

Then out of nowhere she leaned toward me, hand outstretched.  I flinched hard, expecting her to zap me into oblivion.  But all she did was reach for my keys where they dangled from the ignition.  She cradled my keychain in her delicate, perfectly-manicured hand.  It was a plastic alien, neon green with tiny arms and legs and a huge head with black eyes.  I felt suddenly ashamed.  What must she think of this town and our obsession with aliens?

“My mom makes them,” I told her sheepishly.  Isabel was silent.  “I’ll tell her to stop.”  I offered, waiting for her to melt it with her mind or something.  But she let go and sat back again.  To my utter shock she was smiling.

“My mother does stupid things too.”  She said.

“She does?”  I hadn’t thought about the fact that Isabel has a mother, even though I had known Mrs. Evans my whole life.  

“Don’t all mothers?”  Isabel shrugged.  In that moment she seemed so completely  _ human _ , just a teenage girl complaining about her mom.  It was bizarre.

“Yeah, I guess.”  I agreed.  “Does she know?”  I asked suddenly without thinking.

“That she does stupid things?”

“No, that um,”  I might be treading dangerous ground here but as usual my mouth ran away with me.  “That you and Max are like, you know, different?”

“You mean horrible disgusting creatures from outer space who sneak into your room at night and perform excruciating experiments?”

I gaped at her.  That was almost verbatim what I had just said to Liz yesterday at the Crashdown Cafe where we worked.  Was she spying on me?  Was she reading my mind?!

And then my car smashed into something.

There was a horrible crunching sound as the front bumper crumpled inward, followed by a terrifying hiss as steam escaped from the radiator.  

“Oh my god,”  I cried in dismay.  My mother was going to  _ kill _ me.  

After the initial shock wore off I looked up to see what I had hit.  It was the Sheriff’s Bronco.  Perfect.

“Oh, my god.”  Isabel echoed, her jaw set in fury.  She and Max worked tirelessly to avoid being noticed by the authorities.  It was especially critical right now because last week Max had risked exposure to save Liz’s life.  He had chosen to trust her, and in turn she had trusted me with their secret.  But Sheriff Valenti knew something had happened that day and was determined to find out the truth.  

Valenti walked slowly from his truck to my window, surveying the damage.  He leaned down to look in at me and Isabel.

“Ladies.”

I couldn’t look at him or at Isabel.  This was the absolute worst thing that could have happened.

 

The Sheriff insisted on giving us a ride to school.  I spent the entire drive with fists clenched, just waiting for him to start demanding answers about what really happened that day of the shooting at the Crashdown.  I worried about what Isabel would do to me once he left.  But when he dropped us off she just got out of the cruiser and sauntered in to class like nothing had happened.  I gave the Sheriff a hasty thank-you and hurried to find Liz.  

“Oh my god you rear-ended Sheriff Valenti?!”  Liz exclaimed when I told her.  “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it was a love tap, it was nothing, I can handle it.”  I brushed it off, not wanting to worry her.  

“Okay, are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m telling you it was a total fender-bender, minor damage.”  As we talked I walked with confidence, my fear now turned to elation that I had survived being in a car with an alien, then a car accident, and then the potential interrogation by the Sheriff.  I felt great.  “And you know what?”  I continued, my confidence buoyed by the adrenaline still coursing through my veins.  “It probably wouldn’t have even happened if  _ Miss Isabel _ hadn’t been playing with my head.”  I said her name with the same derisive tone she had used with me earlier.

“Wait, why was she playing with your head?”  Liz asked, concerned.

“She was like, deliberately trying to freak me out.”

“How?”

“She like, made my air conditioner blow like a hurricane.”

“Maria, what did you do to make her do that?”

“What did  _ I _ do?”  I stopped walking, incensed by Liz’s accusation.  “Hey, look, listen.  I was there simply to extend myself, you know?  I gave her a lift, trying to reach out, that whole ‘I come in peace’ thing.”  I could see that Liz wasn’t buying it.  “Look Liz, it like takes two people to tango, you know?  And how am I supposed to tango with a girl if she’s going around creeping me out like that?”

“Okay Maria I will talk to Max and have him talk to Isabel.  But the important thing is for us to stay in control.”  She emphasized her last words with hand motions.  Liz was all about staying in control.  It was easy for her to say, she hadn’t seen what Isabel was able to do.  I shook my head.

“Hey, I am in control, okay?  I am like  _ in control _ .”  I hoped I sounded convincing.  I didn’t want to be the one always freaking out, but then I had never expected to find myself in confluence with aliens either.  I wasn’t surprised that Liz was able to just roll with it.  She was always so level-headed.  Plus, her alien encounter involved Max pulling a bullet out of her abdomen and saving her life.  That tended to have a positive effect on a girl.

My good mood was completely gone after my painful ‘career counseling’ meeting with Miss Topolsky.  Her saccharine voice had given me a headache and I’d missed lunch.  So I was already off-kilter when I walked outside and saw Isabel staring at me, her deep brown eyes catching me in her penetrating gaze.  My heart raced with a strange mixture of fear and excitement.  I had never had a girl look at me like that.  I took a deep steadying breath and raised my chin, determined not to let her know how much she affected me.

_ You are in complete control _ I told myself, smoothing my hair into place and stepping forward with the best strut I could muster.  Then to my horror, the books in my hand began to slip.  I lunged for them wildly, losing my balance and sprawling onto the pavement in a heap.  I sat there with my head down and contemplated just staying there for the rest of the day. 

Instead I gathered my books and looked back at Isabel with a little smile.  She, Max, and Michael were all looking at me like  _ I _ was the one with tentacles.  I turned and walked back the way I’d come, head still high thinking I’d be damned if I’d let those aliens bring me down.  

I was relieved when school ended and I punched in for my shift at the Crashdown.  I was even happy to sit through Liz’s schedule wheel presentation.  

“Nice colors.”  I complimented her when it was over.

“Thanks.”  She grinned.

I was smiling when I pushed through the door into the dining room, but my smile quickly disappeared when I saw who was sitting in one of the booths.  I whirled and ran back through the door before it had even closed behind me.  

“You know what, you take the front.”  I told Liz.  “I’m gonna go do that can inventory your dad was talking about.”  I turned to slink into the store room.

“Maria!”  Liz called after me.

“She’s out there!”  I whined, wishing I could be anywhere else.  

“Who is out there?”

“Queen Amidala!”  

Liz peeked through the diamond-shaped window in the door and saw that it was Isabel.

“Okay Maria you have got to calm down here!”  She told me.  “You’ve got to control yourself.”

She said it like it was the simplest thing in the world.  I deeply inhaled from my vial of essential oil.  I felt calm spread through me.  “I am in control.”  I intoned.  “I am in control.”  I threw my hands up in defeat.  “I’m not in control!  Liz look, let me just confide here.  I can’t be around her she makes me feel...Okay I’m sorry it’s just-”  I tried in vain to verbalize the nebulous emotions I had surrounding Isabel Evans.  

“No, no, no,”  Liz told me, her voice soft now that she finally understood how upset I was.  “It’s okay, I get it.”  Liz always knew how to calm me down.  I could see in her eyes that she was sorry she had gotten me into this mess, but she had done it because she needed me.  I breathed a little easier.  “But we’re just like, stuck with each other."  Liz continued.  "You know, the five of us?  So for me, will you just try and be friendly with Isabel?” 

Dammit.  She also knew that I’d do anything for her.  

“Okay, sure.  Great.”  I nodded, trying to psych myself up to go back out there.  “Just one big happy family.”  I took a deep breath and pushed through the door.  My muscles felt shaky as I walked toward her.  “Hi,”  I breathed, and to my horror my voice sounded just as shaky as I felt.

“Hi.”  She sounded annoyed.  Why was she even here?

“So…”  I tried to ask for her order but my brain got stuck somewhere between her deep brown eyes and her full lips.  I realized her lipstick matched her red dress perfectly.  Then I realized I was staring.

“So…” She repeated, twisting a pen nervously between her fingers.  What could she possibly have to be nervous about?  “How bout some fries?”  She finally asked.

“Fries,” I nodded, still feeling breathless.  “Great, great choice.  Really.”  I babbled like an idiot.

“Thanks.”  She responded.  I turned and walked away without another word, feeling unsteady on my feet.  My heart was thundering so loudly in my ears I didn’t hear the next customer come in.

“Coke, please?”  Sheriff Valenti’s voice caught my attention and I whirled around.  “You do have Coke, don’t you?”

I looked to Liz, pleading with my eyes for help, but she just had that deer-in-the-headlights face.

“Y-yes, we do.”  I stammered, “To go?”  I asked, already filling up a large cup for him.  Maybe he wouldn’t stay long.  There was no way I could stand up to an interrogation after the day I’d had.  

“Sure, that’d be fine.” He agreed with a knowing smirk.

I put a lid on the cup and handed it to him.  “On the house.”  I started to turn away but he held a piece of paper out toward me.

“Actually, I need some information from you.”

My wildly pounding heart froze.  Liz and Isabel were both watching me intently, waiting to see what I would tell him.  This was it, he was going to ask me about what happened that day of the shooting.  I can’t lie to him, I’m a terrible liar!

“Your insurance?”  He asked mildly.  “For our little fender bender this morning.”

I exhaled with a whoosh.  If I had been shaking before, it was nothing compared to now.  I hoped he didn’t notice as I scrawled my information onto a napkin for him and took the card he was handing to me.  

“You alright?”  He asked.  Dammit, he had noticed.

“Yes!  Totally alright, happy as a clam!”  I squeaked.

He leaned forward, looking genuinely concerned.  “I’m here to protect you.”  His voice was low.  “From  _ anything _ .  Do you understand?”

In that moment I wanted desperately to trust him.  This secret was just way too big to keep inside, and who knows what these aliens are really doing here?  Maybe the best thing to do would be to let the adults handle it from now on and I could go back to my normal life.

Then suddenly Liz was at my shoulder.  “You know Maria, it’s time for that can inventory we were talking about.”  She looked at me pointedly.  

The Sheriff kept his eyes on me.  “You know where to find me.”  He tipped his hat and then left the diner.  

Isabel was glaring me as if she had heard every word I had been thinking.  Great, do they read minds too?  My nerves were shot.  At this rate I was headed for the loony bin before I could even graduate high school.  

 

I was still wired when I went to bed that night.  I lay there tossing and turning for what felt like hours before sleep finally came.  But when it did I would have preferred no sleep at all. 

I dreamed that I was back at work.  The diner was empty and dark except for two customers: Max and Michael.  I knew I had to take their order, but I couldn’t make my legs move.  I looked away from them as Liz approached to help me clear the tables full of dirty dishes.

“Some people are just pigs,” she complained.  

When I turned back around the two guys had transformed into the most hideous creatures I had ever seen.  

“Oh my god, Liz!”  I screamed, but she just looked at me with dead eyes.  “Look at them!”  I pointed a trembling hand at the creatures who used to be Max and Michael.

“They look perfectly normal to me.”  Liz said in a weird monotone voice.  

Then suddenly a spotlight turned on over the table in the middle of the diner.  Isabel sat there bathed in light, her shining blonde ringlets cascading around her shoulders.  She wore a slinky red cocktail dress that hugged every curve.  Her blood-red lips parted, but her voice came from behind me.

“Interesting…”  She mused, and I whirled around.  There was Isabel sitting on a stool at the counter wearing pink flannel pajamas.  This dream was getting weirder and weirder.  

“What are you doing here?”  I asked her.

“I thought we should talk,” she answered.  “And since we can’t seem to do it when we’re awake, I thought I’d visit you in your dreams.”  Her pouty lips turned up in a small smile.  My heart fluttered.  How many times had I had this very same daydream, before I knew what she really was?

“What do you mean, visit me?”  I had a feeling this was more than just a very vivid fantasy.  Now that I had seen a glimpse of what Isabel could do, nothing seemed implausible.  

“I’m not really part of your dream.”  She confirmed.  So I was right, she could get inside my head.  I wanted to be furious, and I also thought I should probably be scared, but all I felt was a thrill of excitement.  “I can’t change it or anything,”  she continued.  “I just wanted to see what you were thinking.”

I looked back at her doppelganger and wondered what she made of it.  Liz and the two creatures had disappeared and an idea suddenly occurred to me.  There was something I’d always wanted to do but never had the guts.  It was Isabel’s turn to be caught off-guard for once, even if it was only in a dream.  

I walked right up to dream-Isabel and took her perfect face in my hands.  I leaned down and kissed her deeply, feeling her lips move with mine and breathing in her intoxicating perfume.  It was everything I had ever imagined.

Then I pulled away and looked back over at real-Isabel with a triumphant smile.  

But she was gone, and I jolted awake, shivering in a cold sweat.

 

The next morning I was back at work again.  Isabel sat in a different booth, facing away from me and twirling a lock of hair around one long finger.  I knew there was no way it had really been her in my dream last night, but still I couldn’t stop glancing at her every few minutes.  Each time I did, the memory of my dream sent flashes of heat through my veins.  As I worked my way toward her table, she watched me clearing plates into a bin.

“Some people are just pigs.”  She said loudly, smirking, and I dropped the bin onto the floor with a huge crash.  I could hear her chuckling to herself as I gathered it up and raced toward the back, feeling like I might pass out right there.  She really  _ had _ invaded my dream last night!  She had seen everything, and now she knows everything about me.  I tried to catch my breath but couldn’t.

The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I was the only server on duty and customers were still waiting.  No time for nervous breakdowns in the food service biz.  My shift passed by in a blur, I don’t think I got a single order right and Isabel just sat there the entire time.  Then when it was close enough to shift-change that I thought I might make it out alive, Sheriff Valenti sat down.  Apparently today was  _ give Maria a panic attack  _ day at the Crashdown! 

“Sheriff!”  I cried out, still not fully in control of myself.  “What are you doing here?”  _  Great,  _ I thought to myself,  _ way to act normal. _

“Well I enjoyed that Coke so much I thought I’d try breakfast.”  He answered dryly.  “Anything special you’d like to tell me about?”

“No,” I shook my head emphatically, hands shaking.  

“Well your specials board says you’ve got corned beef hash.”  He said, implying that he was merely inquiring about our menu.  I didn’t believe that.  

“Right!  Sorry, yeah, Heavenly Hash Special.”

“Is that what you would recommend?”

“Absolutely.”  I tried to sound as confident as possible.

“Well, you seem to know a lot about what goes on around here, so I’ll trust you.”  He smiled at me.  

Either my imagination was running away with me, or he was putting a double meaning behind everything he was saying.

“Right,” my voice shook, “One heavenly hash special.  To go?”  I asked in the same way I’d said it yesterday, hoping he would take the hint and leave. 

“No, I think I’ll eat it right here this time.”  No such luck.  “By the way,”  He added.  “The insurance company took care of everything.”  He looked me right in the eyes.  “It’s good to have a strong, dependable institution like that on your side.”

Yep, I was right.  Double meaning behind everything he said.  But should I trust him?  Liz would kill me if I did anything to jeopardize Max, but what if she was just blinded by her gratitude?  Not to mention the fact that she has a major crush on him now.  Wasn’t it my responsibility as her best friend to protect her from potentially dangerous guys?  Even if she never forgave me, at least we’d both be safe.  

The Sheriff noticed my hesitation and jumped at his chance.  “Tell ya what, why don’t you stop by my office tomorrow about this time, then you and I can talk?”

I nodded my head slowly.  I couldn’t hurt just to talk to him, could it?

“Oh and, I’ll take that order to go after all.”  He smiled again.  Behind him I could see Isabel listening to every word.  There was a chance I’d never make it to tomorrow.  I exhaled the breath I’d been holding and walked to the back to place his order, gripping the counter to keep myself standing.  This was all just too much to handle.  

 

Liz spent the rest of the day grilling me on what I was going to tell him.  She had me rehearse the lies over and over, even though I knew I would never be able to lie convincingly no matter how much I practiced.  

“Liz!”  I finally snapped at her, the stress bubbling over.  “This is like, so ludicrous!  The Sheriff is smart, he’s gonna find out the truth.”  I looked her in the eyes.  “And maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.  He’s Kyle’s dad, he said he’s here to protect us.”  I pleaded with her, hoping against hope that I could relieve some of this burden by handing it over to an adult.  

“Wait, do you think that we need protection from Max, Michael, and Isabel?”  Liz was appalled.

“Yes!”  I answered instinctively.  “Maybe,”  I shook my head.  “I don’t know.”  How could I possibly know what was the right thing to do in this situation?  “I just wish that you would stop trying to control the way I feel, I am not you, Liz.”  She stared at me, disbelieving.  “Look, I just...I have to do what I think is right.”  Whatever that may be.  “I gotta go.”

 

I was sitting at the auto-body shop waiting for my car to be ready and turning everything over and over in my mind.  I was no closer to a decision when I saw the Evans’ car pull up.  Isabel sat in the passenger seat, laughing and chatting with her mom.  I suddenly remembered what she had said yesterday day in my car, about her mom doing stupid things.  It was clear she had been pretending to be annoyed by her mom.  Anyone could see there was a close bond between them.  It suddenly struck me that Isabel and I had something in common.  She could never reveal her identity to her mom, just like I could never reveal my true inclinations to mine.  

Isabel got out of the car and approached me.  Her pale blue V-neck tee matched the clear sky behind her, and her golden hair twisted lightly in the breeze.  As usual she managed to look like she had just stepped off a runway while at the same time maintaining the illusion that she had put no thought into her ensemble at all.  But something about her seemed different this afternoon.  She stood before me with eyes downcast, looking...vulnerable.  I realized then that her existence, and her brother’s, was in my hands.  When she finally met my gaze her eyes were pleading, begging me for her life.  Any uncertainty I’d had about her intentions melted away.

 

The next morning I arrived at the Roswell police station for my meeting with Sheriff Valenti.  He showed me into his office and I sat on the edge of the chair across from him, nervously twisting the hem of my skirt.  

“What are you afraid of, Miss DeLuca?”  He asked me.

“A lot of things.”  I answered honestly, my voice shaking.

“You know what I think?  I think someone’s controlling you.  Controlling you through fear.”  He was referring to Max and Isabel, not realizing that Liz was the one who had been trying to convince me to lie for them.  “Am I right?”

He was correct that I still had a lot of fear.  After all, I still had no idea what was going to happen now that I was involved in a secret of this magnitude.  But he was wrong about so many other things.  I remained silent, not wanting to lie and unable to tell the truth.

He leaned forward across his desk.  “I’m here to help you,”  He told me, and his eyes still showed genuine concern.  “You know that, right?”

I believed him.  But I also believed that he did not hold the same concern for Max and Isabel.  I couldn’t bring myself to endanger them, and I knew now that that is what the truth would do.  

“Maria, we both know why you’re here.”  He stood and walked around the desk to face me.  “So why don’t we just stop lying to each other, okay?”

I nodded, even though I knew I couldn’t do that.  

“Who is Isabel Evans?”  He asked me outright.  My heart started pounding in my chest.  

“She’s a girl at school.”  My voice was barely above a whisper.  At least it was the truth, even if it wasn’t the whole truth.  Maybe that was my way out of this.  

“Why does she make you so nervous?”

Oh, if he only knew!

“And her brother Max.  How well do you know him?”  The Sheriff continued.  

“Not well.  Not well at all.”  Truth again.  Max was even more of a mystery to me than Isabel.  

“You know, I think you and I have something in common.”  He switched tactics.  “I never really got to know my father very well either.”

I stared at him in shock.  Why was he bringing up my father?  I hadn’t seen the guy since he’d run out on us when I was little.

“My father was the Sheriff around here about forty years ago, did you know that?”

“No.”  I answered, wondering what he was getting at.

“Well he had this theory, you know, about aliens.”

My heart stopped.   _ He knows. _  I focused on keeping myself still, praying he hadn’t seen any type of reaction to his statement.

“He thought they were real.”  The Sheriff continued, studying my face.  “Sounds awfully silly, doesn’t it?”

I laughed a hollow laugh.  “Yeah.”

“That’s what everybody thought.  But my father, he was a very stubborn man.  And he wouldn’t let it go.  He lost his family over it.  Now I would hate to see that happen to any other family in this town, wouldn’t you?”

_ Any other family besides the Evans you mean _ , I thought.  I couldn’t meet his eyes, but my emotions betrayed me as a single tear slid down my cheek.  He wanted to rip that family apart, take Max and Isabel away from the only parents they had ever known.  How could that be right?

“Now there’s one more thing that you and I have in common.”  He went on.  God, what more could there be?  “We’ve both seen things recently that have made us start to wonder.  Made us question ourselves, our beliefs.  And I think, if we share those things with each other, we’re both gonna feel a little bit safer.”

I wiped my face, feeling more determined than ever to keep their secret.

“Now Isabel Evans,” he pressed again.  “She’s just a girl?”

I nodded.  “She’s a special girl.”  Still truth.

“What makes her special?”

“Where she comes from.”

He leaned forward eagerly in his seat.  “Where is she from?  Maria, where are they from?  Where did they come from?”

I squared my shoulders and looked him right in the eyes.  “A very nice family.”  I answered.  “And like you said, Sheriff, we wouldn’t want to destroy any of the families in this town would we?”

I stared him down, and he was the first to look away, exhaling in defeat.  

 

I drove away feeling triumphant.  That was the hardest thing I had ever had to do.  Then once more I saw Isabel on the side of the road, standing next to her broken-down Jeep, and I knew without a doubt I had done the right thing.  She leaned casually against her Jeep like she had all the time in the world, but I knew she was anxiously waiting to find out if I had betrayed their secret.  

I pulled over and rolled my window down, looking at her with eyebrows raised and lips pursed.

“You’re alone?”  She asked, surprised.

“Do you see the Army behind me?”  I retorted.

Her shoulders sagged in relief.  “You lied.”  She stated, removing her sunglasses to study my face.  

“Like a rug.”  I agreed, hoping she didn’t have some kind of lie-detector secret power.  All I’d done was tell partial truths and refrained from elaborating.  

“Were you scared?”  She asked me then, and it was my turn to be surprised.  She had never seemed interested in my feelings before.  

“Understatement.”  I grinned at her.  “But, that was when I realized what it’s like being you.

She looked into my eyes and her expression was one I had never expected to see on Isabel Evans’ face.  She looked at me like all she had ever wanted was for someone to understand what it was like to be her.  For a moment she was real.  Not putting on her popular, queen-of-the-high-school facade.  And in that moment she truly was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.  

Then the moment was gone, her facade carefully back in place.  “You look awful,” she drawled, replacing her sunglasses.  

I scoffed, knowing better than to be offended.  She was clearly deflecting to cover up her moment of vulnerability.

“‘Thanks for saving our butts Maria!’  Oh, no problem Isabel.”  I mimicked in a high voice and glared at her.  She met my eyes unflinching with her stone cold stare.  I chuckled, not at all intimidated now that I knew the Isabel hidden underneath.  I could never be afraid of her now.  

“So,” I said, unable to keep the grin off my face.  “Need a ride?”  I arched my eyebrows suggestively, enjoying my newfound fearlessness.  She rolled her eyes, but grinned back at me as if she too couldn’t help it.  She sauntered around the front of my car and opened the passenger door to get in.   _ I could get used to this _ , I thought.

She got in and turned to face me, still grinning.  “Now, about that kiss…”  

I felt my face flush and my palms start to shake.  I had really been hoping we would just skate over that little dream-moment like it had never happened.

Her face was serious now.  “Is that how you really feel?”  She asked me point-blank.

“Um, well it was just a dream...”  I babbled.  Like I said, terrible liar.  “And I mean, who really knows where dreams come from and plus they’re always like supposed to represent something totally-”  

And then she stopped me mid-sentence by pressing her lips against mine.  My eyes flew open in surprise and my heart careened wildly around my chest.  Then my brain caught up and I realized Isabel Evans was kissing me.  My head spun as dizzying desire raced through me.  I closed my eyes and moved my lips with hers, pressing myself closer and tangling my hands into her long blonde hair.  My senses felt alive like they never had before.  Every touch quickened my breath and sent shock-waves through my body.  

As the kiss deepened, something started to happen.  I felt like we were floating, then flying, then hurling through space.  My eyes, still closed, beheld visions of stars rushing past us and galaxies spinning all around.  Then I saw her.  Isabel Evans.  She was six years old, alone in the desert.  I felt her fear, crippling.  I watched her find her brother Max and felt her fear ease.  In a blur, her life flashed before me.  I saw her adopted into the Evans family and felt her desperate need for stability and family.  I watched her discover her powers and work diligently to master them.  I saw her carefully-constructed persona, the queen bee, that she devised to mask her true self so no one would ever find out that she was...other.  Most of all I felt her burning questions; wondering who she was, where she came from, why she was here.  Uncertainty, curiosity, and always underneath it all was that fear.  Fear that someone, someday, would find her.  

I broke away from her with a visceral cry.  It was all too much for one mind, one heart to contain.  Was that why she shared it with me now?  I pressed my forehead to hers, gasping for breath.  

“Now you truly know what it feels like to be me.”  She whispered.

I looked into her eyes, open and vulnerable once more.  “Thank you for showing me who you really are.”  I told her.  She had chosen to trust me, and I would never betray that trust. It was true what I had told the Sheriff.  She was special, in every way that mattered.  I cradled her face in my hands and vowed then and there that whatever it took, even if it meant my life, I would protect her.

“Thank you for keeping my secret,” she answered.  “Really, you have no idea...you saved our lives.”  She smiled at me then, her face so radiant I felt warmth flow through every inch of me.  I grinned back, feeling elated that she had let me in, let me see her.  

“So, what now?”  I asked her.

“Just drive.”  She answered, laughing like she hadn’t a care in the world.

I took her hand in mine and put the car in drive.  We sped off down the highway, with nothing but the open road and a lifetime of discovery before us.


End file.
